Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d take a stroll down to Maho-dou and check in on the ojamajos, who are surely getting up to some preposterous trouble even as we speak. I mean, the last episode saw Doremi considering marriage to a philandering cowboy entirely so she could consume his herd of cows, an engagement that was only thwarted by her learning they were actually dairy cows. Our girls are not exactly the paragons of selflessness and maturity you might expect from magically empowered guardians – they’re just messy, frequently misguided kids, for whom magic is just as often a source of calamity as a solution to it.
Of course, that’s precisely what makes Ojamajo Doremi so compelling. Its characters are multifaceted and self-defeating in ways that don’t just make for great comedy (and excellent faces), but which also demonstrate the actual, unvarnished process of growing up and attempting to find your place in the world. They clash and dream with relatable pettiness and ambition, making their ultimate attempts to make right and help others an example all can aspire to. It is the messy characters who hang closest to our hearts, for there is nothing more human than messing up, and nothing more admirable than seeking kindness in spite of our foibles, than picking ourselves up and trying again. Let’s see how these girls mess up next!
Episode 14
Holy shit, our cold open features Pop calling out for “Plush-chan,” her title for Majo Rika. All hands on deck folks, it’s a Pop episode
I wonder if Pop’s character was to some extent inspired by Sailor Moon’s Chibi Moon? “Hilarious pink-haired demon child who’s actually/basically the little sister of the protagonist” seems like a pretty specific archetype
From an outside perspective, I’d always sorta figured Chibi Moon represented a shark-jumping moment for Sailor Moon, but she’s actually one of the show’s funniest characters. My only real complaint regarding her is that her ascent coincides with the other sailor scouts retreating from the spotlight in favor of drama with her, Usagi, and Mamoru, but even that doesn’t really become a problem until the series’ downturn in the last two seasons
Anyway, it’s Pop again, and she’s breaking all the boys’ hearts by saying she “prefers mature men.” Treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen, Pop
Meanwhile, Doremi’s sleeping in while Pop takes over the world. Pull yourself together, Doremi!
The musical notation theme is strong in Doremi’s night apparel – both her hair bun clip and her pajamas are adorned with musical notes
Doremi’s mom drives the knife in further, telling Doremi she could learn something from her sister’s example. Boys and steak don’t come naturally Doremi, you gotta make your own future
My god, Doremi has such a perfect “oh god it’s morning again” face while eating breakfast. I feel you, Doremi
The faces just keep coming as Doremi gripes at Pop, then spills hot tea all over herself. Doremi, you are a mess
“You can’t tell who’s the real older sister.” “Yeah, Pop is amazing.” Doremi’s parents are brutal. It seems they have given up on their wayward daughter at this point, and see her only suitable for dunks to hype up Pop
She’s even the class president, what a gal
“Pop’s First Love? Her Beloved Jyunichi-sensei!” A pretty common state of affairs, given how girls generally mature faster than boys, and also how many boys just don’t mature at all
At school, Pop finds herself immediately surrounded by suitors offering to carry her backpack. Gallant as ever, Pop graciously thanks them for their support, but insists she can carry her own pack. A president of the people, who humbly downplays her own superior judgment and grace
“Ever since she became class president, she’s become more like an adult.” Not terribly surprising. Perhaps the key difference separating children from adolescents is an increased awareness of the independence and perspective of others (which can frequently lead to social anxiety), while you might say the jump from adolescence to adulthood involves accepting an increased sense of responsibility towards the people and perspectives around you. Taking a leadership role early in life can easily jumpstart this process, making you reckon with the multiplicity of perspective early. Granted, this isn’t necessarily a good thing – the carefree “I’ll do what I want” lightness of childhood is a precious luxury, one that passes all too swiftly into memory
Nice visual techniques for conveying their new PE teacher Jyunichi’s nerves – he’s animated through very few and intentionally stiff frames to convey his awkward walk, his hair is made more angular to make it seem like it’s standing on end, and his entire outline is made thicker, to emphasize how he’s only drawing attention to himself even as he avoids looking at the class. A clear visual vocabulary of anxiety
Pop introduces herself with reliable social grace, telling him “if you have any questions, feel free to ask me.”
Pop then attempts to comfort a crying girl during dodgeball, but that bastard Kimitaka steals her kerchief. Look, I don’t know why this show’s character designers chose to make you look like some kind of horrible gargoyle, but that’s no excuse to take it out on the rest of us, Kimitaka!
Fortunately, Pop’s five personal bodyguards are here to defend her honor
Pop nearly falls from the jungle gym, but is saved by Jyunichi. They build those things too dang high for such small children! Though I guess the assumption is that if kids fall they’ll generally just bounce, as kids tend to do. God, I wish my bones still worked like that
Pop is instantly enamored with Jyunichi’s mediation abilities. This spells trouble for the bodyguard squad!
Meanwhile, Doremi is greeted at school by the unusual insult of Aiko saying her “face looks like a seal”
Aiko and Hadzuki can only applaud Pop for how kindly she treats her disaster of a big sister. Doremi responds with a maximum power frog face
Really just a feast of Doremi faces today, with more coming as she realizes she forgot her sketching notebook. It’s cruel to admit, but any bad day for Doremi is a fantastic day for the audience
Having reminded us that Doremi is a disaster, we then jump back to Pop
Pop learns that Jyunichi is twenty-two, which is apparently within her strike range
Pop constructs a flower crown for Jyunichi, only to see his attention is being monopolized by all the other kids. Yeah, this definitely seems like a job for some reckless, entirely self-interested displays of magical power
She summons a baby elephant to distract her classmates, a spell that couldn’t possibly result in any further consequences
Desperate times force an alliance between the dreaded Kimitaka and Pop’s bodyguards. Jyunichi must be stopped!
The boys make their move when Pop heads to the bathroom, offering Jyunichi a loosely scrawled letter of challenge. Looks like Jyunichi is going to have to finish his first day by beating up six or seven preschoolers
“As soon as he comes over, we’ll let him have it!” Boys, none of your foreheads reach his kneecaps. No number of toddlers can topple a grown man
Meanwhile, Doremi’s class is also taking their sketching time outside, hanging out on the hills abutting the petting zoo. I wonder how common this sort of thing is in Japan? My classes never went outside or visited local sites in primary school, but America as a country has basically no social trust, particularly relative to Japan. Shows like “Old Enough!”, where a Japanese toddler goes on an errand in public, would be unthinkable in the United States, where our default assumption is that every stranger on the street is a murderer waiting to pounce
Doremi is unhappy with her sketch, but it’s actually pretty good! Her horse is certainly wonky, but she’s got a laudable understanding of scale and perspective
Doremi wisely decides it is not her skills that are lacking, but the environment she is depicting. That’s it Doremi, every great craftsman blames their tools
Pop and Doremi discover each other and immediately start screaming and pointing like in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Ah, siblings
“Are you skipping class?” Pop is ruthless
Oh no, Doremi immediately falls for Jyunichi as well. Should have seen that coming
The dreadful Kimitaka falls into the sheeps’ pen, and is instantly devoured. Alright, he isn’t instantly devoured, but he does at least prompt a stampede
Man, that’s two episodes in a row climaxing in animal stampedes. Did someone on the Doremi staff have a really bad zoo trip, or what
I guess I now know why there are so many magical girl shows: Japan as a society is constantly on the brink of utter collapse, necessitating constant infusions of magic from nearby magical girls to keep things moving
The girls suit up and offer the sheep some delicious grass, but their rage cannot be contained
I’m amused by how this production clearly has one specific “the girls are flying towards the screen” stock image they use every time that, well, the girls fly towards the screen
Jyunichi might have been nervous to meet the class, but he’s really proving himself in these sheep-wrangling escapades. Maybe he should seek a job with Doremi’s fiancé
The girls demand a “make the sheep go back in their cage” spell, and instead get turned into sheep herding dogs. I really appreciate magic’s sense of humor in this show, and also welcome any opportunity for Faithful Dog Doremi to take center stage
Love that they actually just have the voice actresses shout “wan wan wan!” repeatedly as they chase these sheep. Doremi is a very special show
Even as a dog, Onpu must maintain her glamorous image
It falls to Majo Rika to scold our girls for using magic so flagrantly, but hey, she didn’t see how cute Jyunichi was
And Done
Excellent work, Ojamajos! Wait, what am I saying. Terrible work! Terrible work all around! Basically nothing you did today was useful, selfless, or anything short of horrifically misguided! Still, as I admitted at the start, watching these idiots stumble over themselves is at least half the fun of Ojamajo Doremi, and this episode was generous enough to provide us with Doremi In Despair, Pop Triumphant, and Faithful Dog Doremi all in immediate succession. The production has built up so many fully realized characters and running gags that each new episode feels like an affirmation of not just this cast’s mutual fondness, but us in the audience’s closeness with them as well. You might not be a talented artist, but at least you’re a pretty good sheep-herding dog, Doremi!
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